Initially I planned to stay in Louvre for a whole day but changed the plan to get away with a little more than a half because, as a poor graduate student, I couldn't resist the temptation of a free admission day to Musée d'Orsay.
As mentioned in numerous travel books, there is always a long, winding line in front of the museum, which is located not far away from Louvre across the Seine. However, do not be intimidated by the line because it is well worth it. Built from a train station, it had a spacious interior.
With all the elaborated details, the big clock demanded attention.
I followed the crowd to go all the way up to the top through hallways like this.
To my surprise, there was an open patio on the top where you could get some beautiful views of the city. Louvre was great to watch from anywhere.
On the other side, you could even see our old friend, the Sacré-Cœur.
As always, I started from the top level all the way down. Did you ever wonder that I didn't even mention French Impressionism back in Lourve? Well, it certainly wasn't because Louvre didn't have any. It was because, in this category, even Louvre couldn't compete with Orsay. We kind of worked it backward by first showing a Van Gogh, generally marked as a Post-Impressionist.
Then came the man who gave birth the name "Impressionism", Claude Monet. He had several paintings of a woman with an umbrella.
Two of them were here; a third one was in Washington, DC and it had another boy by her side. As it happened, at the time I was there, the Washington painting was touring with an exhibition in Orasy, too. So there were three "Women with a Parasol" (each). How interesting was that!
Up next was my favorite, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whose paintings were a little bit cheesy sometimes but good anyway.
This was one of his finest. The warmth of the party was delivered through a little chat in the corner.
Further down on the first floor, I spotted the famous Manet painting. Manet was one of the earliest to break out from tradition and inspired the whole impressionism movement. But some of his best works like this one had a unique, intriguing quality which no one else could repeat. Look how bizarre it is that the nude woman is sitting comfortably with two well-dressed men, having a picnic!
In this painting, a naked woman named Olympia reclined gracefully in bed and she looked right through your eyes, making us, the spectators, a bit nervous.
Thousands of other great impressionism and modern paintings were there. It was an impressionism-lover's heaven.
Besides paintings, Orsay also hosted a number of sculptures, just outside the rooms of paintings. It was a sculpture garden without the grass and under the roof.
By the time I finished Orsay, my legs were about to break. I couldn't walk or stand any longer so I went back to my hostel and rested under the stars.
As mentioned in numerous travel books, there is always a long, winding line in front of the museum, which is located not far away from Louvre across the Seine. However, do not be intimidated by the line because it is well worth it. Built from a train station, it had a spacious interior.
With all the elaborated details, the big clock demanded attention.
I followed the crowd to go all the way up to the top through hallways like this.
To my surprise, there was an open patio on the top where you could get some beautiful views of the city. Louvre was great to watch from anywhere.
On the other side, you could even see our old friend, the Sacré-Cœur.
As always, I started from the top level all the way down. Did you ever wonder that I didn't even mention French Impressionism back in Lourve? Well, it certainly wasn't because Louvre didn't have any. It was because, in this category, even Louvre couldn't compete with Orsay. We kind of worked it backward by first showing a Van Gogh, generally marked as a Post-Impressionist.
Then came the man who gave birth the name "Impressionism", Claude Monet. He had several paintings of a woman with an umbrella.
Two of them were here; a third one was in Washington, DC and it had another boy by her side. As it happened, at the time I was there, the Washington painting was touring with an exhibition in Orasy, too. So there were three "Women with a Parasol" (each). How interesting was that!
Up next was my favorite, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whose paintings were a little bit cheesy sometimes but good anyway.
This was one of his finest. The warmth of the party was delivered through a little chat in the corner.
Further down on the first floor, I spotted the famous Manet painting. Manet was one of the earliest to break out from tradition and inspired the whole impressionism movement. But some of his best works like this one had a unique, intriguing quality which no one else could repeat. Look how bizarre it is that the nude woman is sitting comfortably with two well-dressed men, having a picnic!
In this painting, a naked woman named Olympia reclined gracefully in bed and she looked right through your eyes, making us, the spectators, a bit nervous.
Thousands of other great impressionism and modern paintings were there. It was an impressionism-lover's heaven.
Besides paintings, Orsay also hosted a number of sculptures, just outside the rooms of paintings. It was a sculpture garden without the grass and under the roof.
By the time I finished Orsay, my legs were about to break. I couldn't walk or stand any longer so I went back to my hostel and rested under the stars.
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